Intimacies

by Katie Kitamura

Literary Fiction

Contemporary

Psychological

225 Pages

"Intimacies is hypnotic and unsettling—Kitamura writes with cool precision about the distance between what we say and what we mean."

Synopsis

An interpreter arrives at The Hague, hoping to escape New York and find stability working at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she searches for a place to finally call home. Instead, she finds herself drawn into layered personal dramas: her lover Adriaan is separated from his wife but remains emotionally entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses what appears to be a random act of violence, and the interpreter becomes increasingly fixated on the crime, befriending the victim's sister. Meanwhile, her professional work grows precarious as she interprets for a former president accused of war crimes, their relationship unmoored by the shifting nature of language and meaning. She is the voice in the ear of many, but what power does that position grant her, and how exposed does it leave her? Her measured perspectives on power, love, and violence face testing both in her intimate relationships and in her role at the Court. As she's pushed toward a breaking point where betrayal and heartbreak loom, her pursuit of truth and love throws into sharp relief what she truly wants from life. From the author of A Separation, Intimacies is an electrifying exploration of a woman caught between many truths, navigating the treacherous spaces where language, power, and desire intersect.

Our Take

Katie Kitamura has established herself as a master of quiet tension and psychological ambiguity, and Intimacies confirms her as one of contemporary fiction's most sophisticated voices. The novel operates through accumulation rather than dramatic revelation, building unease through small betrayals, ambiguous encounters, and the protagonist's careful observations. Kitamura's unnamed interpreter is fascinating precisely because of her studied neutrality—a woman who translates others' words for a living yet struggles to articulate her own desires and boundaries. The parallel between her personal life and professional work is elegant: just as she mediates language at the war crimes tribunal, she mediates between her lover and his absent wife, between her friend and a violent incident, always occupying liminal spaces. Kitamura's prose is controlled and precise, creating a hypnotic effect that mirrors the interpreter's detached engagement with her own life. The novel raises profound questions about complicity, witness, and the ethics of remaining neutral when power imbalances demand taking sides. Readers who appreciated the atmospheric tension of The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy or the psychological acuity of Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill will find Intimacies equally compelling. This is literary fiction at its most intelligent and unsettling—a slim novel dense with meaning, exploring how we navigate intimacy in a world where language itself proves insufficient to capture truth.